ABSTRACT

The effect of frequency of collection of semen on semen characteristics and libido and body weight changes of rabbit bucks was studied. Eighteen Chinchilla rabbit bucks were used in the study. They were randomly assigned to three treatment replicated three times with two bucks per replicate. The treatments were T; (once a week), T2 (twice a week), and T3 (thrice a week). Among the parameters studied, semen volume, sperm concentration, sperm motility, abnormal sperm proportion, and libido and total sperm concentration, showed significant differences {P<0.05) between the different treatments. Semen per ejaculate was highest in the T, (0.82ml) and least in the T; (0.56ml). Semen concentration was higher in the T, » (277.2x106 /ml) than in the T3 (153x106 /ml). Total sperm concentration followed same trend as sperm concentration (T; (226.1x10/ml) and T; (85.7x10/ml)). T; (86.7%) recorded highest motile sperm while T3 (53.3%) had the lowest. Reaction time was shorter in the T3 (3.25s) than in the T1 (8.00s). Abnormal sperm was lowest in the T, (14.2%) and highest in the T3 (35.4%). Semen volume, concentration, motility, total sperm concentration decreased significantly with increase in frequency while libido was significantly shorter at the higher frequency. Abnormal sperm increased with increase in frequency of semen collection. The values obtained for the different treatments were T; (14.2%), T; (20.8%) and T; (35.4%). Body weight and live sperm showed no significant {P>0.05) differences between the treatments. If the 3 samples collected from the T3 group per week are pooled, the sperm concentration would be higher than that of the T1 group. However, there would also be more abnormal sperm contained in the samples. From the results of this study, it can be recommended that semen collection in rabbit bucks should not be more than twice a week because of the deleterious effects of higher frequencies of semen collection.